


Bloodsands

by 0bsidianFire



Series: Static Tuned in to Reason [4]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Ambushes and Sneak Attacks, Au Ra Xaela (Final Fantasy XIV), Backstory, Canon-Typical Violence, Establishing Character Moment, Gen, Headcanon, Origin Story, Tumblr: FFXIVwrite2019, Worldbuilding, desert life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:13:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23852863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/0bsidianFire/pseuds/0bsidianFire
Summary: Before she was a Warrior of Light, Kharagal was a Xaela warrior and excelled at what she did. Including dealing with threats to her tribe.For FFXIVwrite2019 - Prompt #11: Snuff
Series: Static Tuned in to Reason [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/860852
Kudos: 5





	Bloodsands

High above the Nhaama, Kharagal and her fellow warriors rode the thermals on their yol. The Meirqid were on the move and they were currently in the stretch between supply caches when they were at their most vulnerable. Kharagal and several groups of other warriors had ridden far in advance of the main group and were scouting ahead.

Kharagal’s group was in charge of scouting out the supply cache itself. They had swung far to the east, overshot the cache and then turned back up north to approach it from the south. Hopefully, anyone who might be at the cache would have been watching the north where the main group of Meirqid was coming from and wouldn’t notice them until it was too late. Better yet, no one would be at the cache at all.

“You see anything?!” Shar yelled above the wind whipping through her long blond hair. She was older than Kharagal was and had long been famous for knowing exactly where to punch people.

“No, nothing but sand!” From up in the air it was hard to see anything small against the blazing sand of the Nhaama. “Maybe–”

“I see them!” It was Baavgai, their archer. “There among those rocks to the north-west. It’s those rouge Torgud!”

Kharagal squinted at the rock formation and then saw them. Tucked around the base of the rocks were the familiar gold, black and white patterned shapes of grounded desert yol. Perched up on the rocks where the white forms of painted naked Xaela. Given the angle the rocks were at, the Torgud would be next to impossible to see from the north.

“Well, they certainly aren’t being friendly,” called out Shar. “Should we pay them a visit? Maybe teach them about why armor exists?”

“Obviously,” thundered out Aruktai. “There’s six of them and four of us.” He cackled. “But they’re all grounded.”

“Think they’ve got any back-up bro?” Kharagal asked.

“No!” Baavgai shouted back. “We’re far enough south we should have run into them by now. This is too close to our cache not to be anything but the main ambush.”

“We’re doing the usual then?” Kharagal could hear the grin in Shar’s voice.

“Yes!” Aruktai turned around to look at them. “On my mark.”

He and Shar dropped in altitude, while Kharagal and Baavgai stayed at a higher altitude. Fortunately, it was mid-morning and any shadows they cast would be to the west. Before they were on top of the Torgud, Aruktai’s yol dived, Shar’s right behind him. They were aiming for the Torgud.

Kharagal and Baavgai swooped down behind them. Kharagal quickly formed the geometries of Bio and Miasma. Instead of casting them on the Torgud, she cast them on the yol. She felt the fever hit them and their lungs began filling with phlegm. Beside her, Baavgai was maiming them with arrows. So long as they could keep the Torgud grounded and Baavgai and Kharagal in the skies, they would most likely win.

There was a roar from Aruktai and Kharagal looked around to see her brother hold up a freshly severed horn in one hand while his other hand swung his giant war-axe in a swath around him. His eyes glowed with the familiar wrath of Karash. A ways away from him, Shar danced around two other Torgud, planting her fists and heels into them wherever she could find room.

Convinced the yol would stay down now, Kharagal began flinging Ruin spells towards the fight Aruktai was involved in. Baavgai flew higher to keep a lookout and make sure they weren’t ambushed and to keep a lookout for the main group of Meirqid.

Soon, the yol started dying and Kharagal stopped keeping the Bio and Miasma spells on them. She switched to keeping them up on the Torgud instead. One of Shar’s foes had finally died, most likely due to the massive dent in the back of his skull. Aruktai had killed another one of his opponents and one of the two still fighting him was missing an arm above the elbow. On the floor was a body nearly split in half from what Kharagal recognized as her brother slicing through someone from the back of a yol at full diving speed.

Kharagal put her attention onto the Torgud that had somehow managed not to get maimed by her brother, and began tracing out Fester, one of the more complicated spells in her mind. It caused the sicknesses mimicked by Bio and Miasma to flare up all at once. The woman keeled over and started hacking for breath. Aruktai was quick to take advantage of the situation and now the rest of the Torgud were nearly dead. It didn’t take much longer for Shar and Aruktai to finish them off.

Once they were all dead, Khargal and Baavgai landed. “You can see the rest of the Meirqid on the horizon,” Baavgai told them. “They’ll be here in a few hours; we might as well just stay here.”

Aruktai cracked his neck and looked at the south sky. His eyes were clear now. “We’ll keep one of us in the air at all times. Just in case they send someone back.”

Kharagal looked at the Torgud. Their white paint was cracked and in the process of flaking off. No Torgud that was welcome in the tribe would have let their paint get to that state. “You think these were guys Khatun Caalun warned us of?”

“Looks like it,” said Shar. “Don’t kill the guys who opposed you grabbing power in the tribe, but do kick them out and do warn their enemies about them,” she singsonged. “Typical.”

Khargal shrugged. It was typical. “I guess I’ll watch from the air first, then.” Arkutai and Shar needed to clean up and Baavgai had spent most of the fight watching the skies for them.

Aruktai nodded at that and Khargal took to the air. As she looked towards the north, she could see the Meriqid herds spilling out over the horizon with more yol flying overhead. Her people were almost home.

**Author's Note:**

> This is inspired by a lot of WWII air strategy. Because I cannot see anyone slinging magic spells or shooting arrows from a flying yol and not think of half a dozen types of fighter planes. Or the various types of ordinance they all can have. And then Lore Book 2 revealed that the Xaela had been taming Yol for at least four thousand years…


End file.
